Core is the word for distracted Westpac

Westpac CIO Bob McKinnon has admitted that Westpac's attention had been diverted from the transformation of its core banking systems because of another project, adding that it's high time to get on with the job.

Westpac CIO Bob McKinnon has admitted that Westpac's attention had been diverted from the transformation of its core banking systems because of another project, adding that it's high time to get on with the job.

"The move to St George product platforms has moved to the backburner in the last 12 months as we build a brand new bank from scratch, the Bank of Melbourne," McKinnon admitted at a CEDA event in Sydney on Friday.

"The Bank of Melbourne has probably distracted us in the last 12 months, and its now time for us to get back on with [Westpac core banking modernisation]," he said.

While the development of the Bank of Melbourne has distracted Westpac, McKinnon said that it will benefit the bank's Strategic Investment Priorities (SIPs) in the long term, building on statements made by Westpac's chief technology officer Sarv Girn in April.

Girn said that the development of modern core banking technology for Bank of Melbourne would speed up the delivery of the SIPs, because the rest of the bank could focus on customer service systems while the Bank of Melbourne nutted out core issues in parallel.

"We've now got two runways. On one runway we're transforming customer [facing] platforms and taking the lead for the whole group around that to make sure we're putting in an innovative platform, and in the other one, we're really cranking up our product platforms," Girn told ZDNet Australia.

"Having the 'two runways' approach does speed up things in both areas."